Tribunes take down HVCC, skate into title game

TROY, New York - The top-seeded MCC ice hockey team took care of business in the NJCAA national semifinals Saturday, defeating host Hudson Valley Community College 10-0 to advance to Sunday's title game.

The Tribunes (22-1-1) certainly weren't looking ahead, scoring twice in the first period before tallying four more goals apiece in the second and third. Monroe won 47 of 77 faceoffs and scored on all three power plays.

MCC will play second-seeded Williston State - 7-0 winners over Erie in the other semifinal -  for the championship. It's a rematch of the last two national title games. Monroe won in 2012, and the Tetons prevailed a year ago.

Zach Coughlin got the Tribunes on the board at the 6:16 mark of the first period, assisted by Daniel Martensson and Martin Matejcek. It was the first of four assists apiece for each player.

Matejcek scored three and a half minutes later to make it 2-0, and MCC carried that lead into the locker room.

The Tribunes then opened up the game in the second with four unanswered goals. Tyler Underhill scored twice to highlight the period.

Monroe continued to exert pressure over the final 20 minutes and the results was another four-goal period. Dominik Gabaj had two of the goals as the Tribunes put the game away.

Matejcek finished with a goal and four assists, and Underhill and Gabaj each had two goals and one assist. Coughlin and John Papas chipped in with a goal and two assists each, and Pavel Kuzmin, Tom Hanna, and Andrew Sanders also scored.

Jesse Little did what he needed to do in goal, stopping 12 shots for the shutout.